USAF Modifies JPF Kaman Contract

Kaman Corporation of Bloomfield has entered into a contract modification with the United States Air Force (USAF) for the award of options 6, 7 and 8 under the company's multi-option "Joint Programmable Fuze" (JPF) contract. The modification provides new prices and quantities for the next three option buys upon exercise and updates the original contract negotiated in 1997.

The new value of the next option (option 6) of the contract is approximately $53 million. Deliveries are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2010. Upon exercise, the value of options 7 and 8 will depend on the quantity options selected by the USAF, add-ons, foreign military orders and future funding.

"This contract modification award is the result of our efforts to attain profitability on sales of the JPF to the Air Force," said Neal J. Keating, Kaman chairman, president and CEO.

The JPF is an electro-mechanical bomb safing and arming device for the USAF. It allows the settings of a weapon to be programmed in flight and is the current bomb fuze of choice of the USAF. In addition to the USAF, multiple nations currently utilize the JPF and further international market growth is planned. Kaman produces more than 2,000 JPFs per month at facilities in Orlando, Florida and Middletown, Connecticut.

Kaman Corp., headquartered in Bloomfield, Conn., conducts business in the aerospace and industrial distribution markets. The company produces and/or markets widely used proprietary aircraft bearings and components; complex metallic and composite aerostructures for commercial, military and general aviation fixed and rotary wing aircraft; safing and arming solutions for missile and bomb systems for the U.S. and allied militaries; subcontract helicopter work; and support for the company's SH-2G Super Seasprite maritime helicopters and K-MAX medium-to-heavy lift helicopters. Kaman is also one of the nation's leading industrial distribution companies for power transmission, motion control, material handling and electrical components from nearly 200 locations throughout North America.

Flying Warthog, Flightline View

One pilot. One 30-mm seven-barrel Gatling gun. (Other weapons can load under the wing or fuselage. Or both.)

And the A-10 Thunderbolt II can fly at 420 miles per hour. For 800 miles.

Nicknamed the Warthog, the aircraft is armed with a General Dynamics GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm cannon, mounted in the nose of the aircraft (see above).

The magazine can hold 1,350 rounds of ammunition. The pilot can select a firing rate of 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute.

The two turbofan engines, TF34-GE-100, are supplied by General Electric, and each provides 9,065 pounds of thrust. The location of the engines, high on the fuselage, allows the pilot to fly the aircraft fairly easily with one engine inoperable.

The pilot is protected by titanium armor that also protects parts of the flight-control system. That means the aircraft can survive direct hits from armor-piercing and high explosive projectiles. Manual systems back up their redundant hydraulic flight-control systems. This permits pilots to fly and land when hydraulic power is lost.

Many of the aircraft's parts are interchangeable left and right, including the engines, main landing gear and vertical stabilizers. The A-10 is scheduled to be flying with the USAF until 2028.

Source: USAF fact sheet, Langley AFB, Virginia.

Recent aviation industry contracts:

Awarded to Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn, Dec 17, 2008, a $812,786,103 fixed price contract for funding of third program year of multi-year contract for Army Lot 33 consisting of 51 UH-60M and 12 HH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, and also tooling; program systems, and technical publications. Work will be performed in Stratford, with an estimated completion date of 2012. One bid was solicited and one bid was received. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aviation & Missile Command, Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity.

The Air Force is modifying a fixed price, fixed quantity contract to General Electric Aviation (Ohio) for $68,067,563. This contract action will provide newly redesigned high-pressure compressor and high-pressure turbine assemblies, newly redesigned aging engine upgrade components, initial provisioning spares and new technical data to support the life extension plan and aging engine upgrade initiatives applicable to F-16 aircraft. At this point, the entire amount has been obligated. 448 SCMG/PKBC, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. is the contracting activity.

Source: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense